Xinjiang big plate chicken @ Happy Brother Canteen
130 London Rd, Liverpool, L3 5NW
All dining experiences have the potential for greatness. Lively dinners on long benches, platters and bottles being handed back and forth. Conspiratorial lunches on tiny tables, crowded with plates and glasses.
And then there’s the eating out you do alone. Not a pastry from a paper bag or pre-packed sandwich on a packed-in train, but the solo sit-down meal in a restaurant.
I wouldn’t necessarily say dining out alone is my favourite way of eating, but has to be close. It’s time to yourself, not in company but surrounded by it. It’s space to think, or very deliberately not think. And you can order the food you really want – something new and interesting, or familiar and comforting – unencumbered by the expectations of anyone else.
Taking yourself out for dinner is good and more people should do it.
Among my favourite places to eat alone is Happy Brother Canteen on London Road. Calm yet buzzy, with friendly service and always busy – both with groups and lone diners.
At Happy Brother there are two menus; one written on a whiteboard, one printed and available on request.
The former is in English and consists mostly of roast meats – char sui pork, duck, soya chicken. The latter is entirely in Cantonese and offers a much wider variety of options, from braised offal to claypot rice.
Judicious use of Google Lens and a polite chat with staff will help you to work out what to order. On my most recent solo visit I chose the Xinjiang chicken, which may have been a mistake.
Also known as big plate chicken, it’s a delicious hot-and-spicy stew of potatoes, peppers and tender, bone-in chicken originating from the halal cuisine of China’s northeast. As with much of the food from this region it’s heavily flavoured with cumin and anise.
Usually served with wide, flat belt noodles at Happy Brother the dish comes with luxurious, freshy-made lo mein, a modification requested by the Chinese students who are the restaurant’s most frequent customers.
The problem is, as its nickname suggests, it’s quite a big plate of food. Not complaining but I was eating leftovers days later. Maybe I shouldn’t dine here alone next time.
